[mythtv-users] completely new and have questions before I buy hardware

[Marc Randolph]

On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 7:01 PM, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> [...]
> (So, what about HDTV decoders?  Well, they're completely unnecessary for
> MPEG-2-encoded HDTV, but could be useful today for MPEG-4-AVC-encoded
> HDTV (H.264) /if/ there were any that worked in Linux.  However, by the
> time there is hardware that works in Linux for decoding H.264 HDTV,
> there won't be a need for the decoders...  And, since decoders only
> limit what Myth can do and don't provide any benefits over simply
> selecting an appropriate general-purpose CPU...)

Drifting off topic...
Understand and agree for the most part.  But hardware decoding for
H.264 or maybe VC1 could be useful for:

* Those on a super tight buget who want to go with lowest cost CPU
* Those trying to minimize every last Watt (with HW decode, you can
even underclock, rather than having to run ~2.75 GHz)
* Those trying to eliminate fans required to run at ~2.75 GHz (either
for space or noise reasons)

   Marc